In vino veritas: still life with wine

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The term "still life" comes from the French phrase nature morte - "dead nature". This is a kind of painting, the perception of which, like the appreciation of a good wine, depends on the tastes of those interacting with it. And, as in wine, in a still life, all components are carefully selected, so as to compose a composition with a certain meaning. A drink can express a variety of, sometimes even opposite, things in a picture. On the example of several photos of still lifes with wine, we invite you to plunge into these secret meanings.

Wine as a reminder of the frailty of life

As a rule, in the classic Dutch still life, wine is a symbol of the transience of life. Together with other objects expressing withering and death, it reminds the viewer that everything in the world is transient and one must think about the eternal. This is the meaning of wine in the still life of the 17th-century Dutch artist Jan David de Heem. This meaning is further enhanced by the image of a skull, a symbol of the senselessness of vanity and vanity. Still lifes with wine or fruit in combination with this drink during the life and work of de Heem are almost always associated with the theme of death and the inevitability of the end. They are made in gloomy colors and correspond to the general philosophy of the era.

Painting, like any kind of serious art, at that time was didactic. Through it, the author spoke about his understanding of the world and often about the education, real or imaginary, of the customer of such a canvas. Also in still lifes in which wine has a similar meaning, oysters, empty shells, shells are found as symbols of withering.

Wine as a symbol of the blood of Christ

Very often, the secret meanings encrypted in a still life with wine echo biblical scenes and are an allusion to gospel events. This is especially true of the works of ancient painters. In an ordinary, at first glance, picture - such as, for example, the canvas of the Flemish painter Osias Beert "Still life with cherries and strawberries", lies a deep philosophical content. The cup with this drink here symbolizes the blood of Christ, the bread - the flesh of Christ, the cherry - the Passion of Christ, and the strawberry - Paradise. Also in still lifes with wine there may be a lobster, which tells the viewer who knows how to understand this symbol about the rebirth, resurrection of Christ and the possibility, after the death of a mortal body in an imperfect earthly world, a new life. In this case, the drink is not necessarily in the vessel, but may be spilled - unambiguousan allusion to the blood of Christ shed for the salvation of mankind. An overturned goblet or bowl faces the viewer with an empty bottom.

Wine as a symbol of the fullness of life

But not everything is so gloomy in the relationship of this drink with art. In most modern still life paintings, wine no longer acts solely as a symbol of the dark side of life. On the contrary, a sunny drink is able to talk about fun, colorfulness, and the completeness of perception of the world. It can act as a symbol of a holiday, flowering, riot. Often it is depicted as bright: just as the taste of this drink gives pleasure, it also gives life.

Still life with wine gives the viewer a certain impulse. Encourages him to feel the moment. Pictures of this genre in the modern world are not contraindicated in bright, rich, saturated colors. This applies, for example, to the work of contemporary artist Everett Spruill, where colors literally gush with life and light.